Burn Down the Disco have done a lot of good work for music in Barnsley over recent years and have given a platform for some fantastic local talent, as well as bringing top-class acts to town for all to see; Gallows, Neville Staple, Reverend and the Makers and now, following a tantastic staging of acts at Coalfields, they present The Complete Stones Roses at the Lucorum. Considering, the amount of attention The Stone Roses have had this summer since the start of their reunion; it’s an inspired choice. In support, we have The Glavins, one of the most established of the current batch of local indie bands and The Silent Gestures – a young and amazingly talented good old psychedelic rock n roll band.
Unfortunately then, because there are so many bloody good bands in this town tonight, I am delayed getting to the Lucorum as another event overruns and I am gutted that I miss The Silent Gestures. I do love their song Ride and I have no doubt that the audience loves it too.
Travis Glen Eaton of The Slient Gestures
© Music Gone Ape Photography
So as I start to neck that first John Smiths, The Glavins take to the stage. They certainly know stuff, opening with two of their finest back-to-back; perfect documents of just how special this band are. Underneath that indie swagger and that Merseybeat twang are nods to many more genres. Moscovite has gypsy punk and even psychedelic prog. There are also hints of Cast and even The Monkees straddle their way into certain melodies. Bullet Train is exactly that, lashings of Johnny Cash-like rockabilly in an ode to transportation and death. It’s brilliant and although the crowd are a bit too cool to clap (what is this? London?), when they play I Still (as good as The Coral’s best song), if the number of phone cams out is anything to go by, then you know the crowd are lapping it up. Time Machine, the song they close on, is epic. I could be lazy and say it’s like Oasis played by a band of Russian Gypsies but it is so much more than that. Pick any one of their songs and you can hear a chart hit and that is a testament to what is a really tight rhythm section, a brilliant vocalist and in Mark Oaks’ lead guitar a myriad of influences and because of that, they’re an indie band that will appeal to many more folk than people will give them credit for.
Carl Stott of The Glavins
© Music Gone Ape Photography
Two cans later and The Complete Stone Roses take to the stage to the beautiful rumble that is bass line to I Wanna Be Adored and yes, their Reni looks a little more like Keith Moon tonight and their Ian Brown is the spot of Danny Dyer under those like but unlike Ian Brown more recently, vocalist Jon Mckenzie is note perfect throughout this set. When he sings ‘I don’t have to sell my soul’, the audience sings along and keeps up that volume in-between songs with chants of ‘Yorkshire Yorkshire!’
On the slower numbers like Shoot You Down and Ten Story Love Song, all of the blokes in the audience suddenly lose their inhibitions and embrace. On Waterfall, you have one of those songs where the crown sings the guitar riff rather than the lyrics. It’s a unique experience and one common with this specific song when the real Roses play live. She Bangs the Drum is a real set highlight and takes me right back to my nights at Regents Park and the crowd singing drowns out the sound of the band. If there is any disappointment tonight, it’s Fools Gold. Musically and vocally it sounds nothing like the original but at least it retains the funk guitar and keeps everyone of their toes. It also improves drastically once they hit the instrumental section, which is as tripped out 1989 acid party as you want it to be and goes someway to explaining the topless man trying to dance all hard-like but comes over like he’s doing I’m a Little Teapot. Loves Spreads is the read second set highlight for me. The slide guitar is replicated perfectly and the rhythm section is tight as fuck. The breakdown to that song is just magic.
During the encore we get the closing two songs from that classic 1989 album. This Is the One is amazing; accompanied by a laser light show, a pogoing audience and Fred Perry shirts coming off left, right and center. As the words ‘down, down, I bring you down…’ ring out amongst audience and the chorus of I Am the Resurrection comes alive, it’s uplifting and triumphant. A perfect end to the summer and a brilliant start to the Burn Down the Disco’s autumn season of live gigs.
Alternative Barnsley 